No. 4 Lindsey Wilson Ties No. 5 Rio Grande

COLUMBIA, Ky. -- Lindsey Wilson College (Ky.) and University of Rio Grande (Ohio) battled to a 1-1 draw on Saturday night in a battle of top-five teams at Walter S. Reuling Stadium.

Lindsey Wilson's Musa Mawanda scored in the 85th minute to help salvage the tie in a game where the No. 4-ranked Blue Raiders played a man short for nearly 83 minutes. The Blue Raiders move to 4-1-2 overall and 1-0-1 in the Mid-South Conference with the result.

Fifth-ranked Rio Grande (5-1-1, 1-0-1 MSC) grabbed a 1-0 lead in the sixth minute off Maximiliano Viera's strike from 24 yards away. The shot from straight-away sailed over the head of Lindsey Wilson keeper Yuta Nomura and dipped into the net for the early advantage.

The two teams exchange scoring chances over the next 15 minutes and looked to be settling into the match when the game turned on a foul inside the Lindsey Wilson penalty area.

Nomura drew a red card after being cited for a foul as the last defender. The card forced the Blue Raiders to play the rest of the match a man down.

Lindsey Wilson's Christoffer Gatara replaced Nomura in goal and immediately stopped a Viera penalty kick -- which resulted because of the foul -- to keep the deficit at one goal. Gatara played the final 82:57 without allowing a goal while stopping three Rio Grande shots.

Lindsey Wilson managed just one shot in the first half -- a Tom Moody shot that sailed high -- and trailed 1-0 at the break.

In the second half, the Blue Raiders put the pressure on the RedStorm backline and keeper Jon Dodson. Lindsey Wilson managed six second-half shots, including three on target.

The best sequence of the night for the Blue Raiders came following a Rio Grande foul.

Lindsey Wilson's Aleksi Pahkasalo sent a laser past Dodson from 30 yards out only to hit the crossbar and send the ball back. Seconds later, Mawanda one-timed the equalizer into the back of the net with 5:54 left in regulation play.

The goal is Mawanda's first of his career.

Rio Grande managed two shots in the two overtimes compared to Lindsey Wilson's one. None of the three shots found the target.

For the match, Rio Grande out-shot the Blue Raiders 9-8.

Lindsey Wilson returns to action at 3 p.m. CT on Wednesday, Sept. 25 as the Blue Raiders travel to Shawnee State (Ohio) University in Portsmouth, Ohio.